House and Senate lock down outside lawyers for redistricting

The Texas House and Senate have finalized contracts capped at $75,000 each for outside lawyers to help with the thorny issue of redistricting during the special session.

The Senate, according to a contract obtained by Texas Politics, has hired veteran redistricting attorney C. Robert Heath as its go-to for outside legal advice on election maps. Heath, a partner in law firm Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP, is set to earn an hourly rate of $400, with a $75,000 limit that can’t be exceeded “without approval of the Lieutenant Governor.”

Heath is a former chair of the Texas Attorney General’s Opinion Committee, a group of assistant attorney generals that determine whether documents can be made public under an open records request, and his redistricting experience dates back to the 1970s. (read more about his experience here and here).

For its part, the House tapped Baylor University professors David Guinn and Mike Morrison to advise the lower chamber on its redistricting plans — also at the hourly rate of $400 a piece and with at $75,000 max value contract that can be increased only with the say-so of Speaker Joe Straus.

The House and Senate contracts are set to run through Oct. 31, unless lawmakers decide to terminate them earlier.

The two Baylor professors advised the Senate during the 2011 redistricting saga at the same rate, though their contract at the time was capped at $100,000, according to a story from the Star-Telegram’s Dave Montgomery.

That Star-Telegram story also notes that the House in 2011 hired former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, now a partner in law firm Baker Botts, as a redistricting legal adviser for a $10,000-a-month fee and with an uncapped contract.

Phillips said he stopped advising the House on redistricting sometime in early 2012.